‘V O R T E X’ – The debut album from Terence Etc. is out tomorrow on Brainfeeder

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The first single “In Contemplation of Clair’s Scent” is out now on Brainfeeder.

First introduced into the public eye as a filmmaker with his 2012 Sundance Film Festival debut “An Oversimplification of Her Beauty”, Terence Nance (also known as Terence Etc. in more musically aligned spheres) exists on the threshold of artistic form. Terence has built a reputation over the last decade as one of America’s most adventurous filmmakers and is perhaps best known for his Peabody Award-winning HBO series “Random Acts of Flyness”, a television program that he created, directed, starred in, edited, and scored in 2018. He is truly multidisciplinary. He draws. He writes. He sings. He plays the guitar. He builds things. He harbors in himself a great many possibilities, a great many realities that whirl about seeking expression and balance.

It is this desire for balance—balance of life, balance of emotions, balance of energies within— that brought forth “V O R T E X”, his debut album.

“V O R T E X is a sonic tool that I made so that I can play it for myself and balance my energy between masculine and feminine; destructive and creative; domination and submission; right and left; sun and moon; day and night: opposing energies generally,” explains Terence. “The album intends to use sound, melody, song, incantation, etc. to rebalance a bodyspirit through out the constant circular movement of life.”

The album was written and produced by Terence, along with long time friends and collaborators: Solomon Dorsey, Nick Hakim and his brother Nelson Bandela. Most of the songs on the 11 track album are arranged as diptychs that swell and fold in on themselves in a dizzying oscillation. Terence is flirtatious in his lamenting, with a style that swells from suggestively oracular, to vaudeville, to your local battle of the bands.

“I recorded demos for each song, just guitar and voice on a voicenote – then I started doing shows and Solomon and Nick encouraged me to get into the more rigorous process of producing the songs which took planning and revisions, revisions, revisions, until it was done. I credit them with making sure it all happened” says Terence.

Visuals by Rikkí Wright, Alima Lee, Kirby Griffin, and Maya Iman will accompany the album.

Terence highlights Stevie Wonder as a major source of inspiration: “I think my favorite song ever… is probably ‘Visions’. It’s – for me – the most viscerally emotional experience of melody, instrumentation and lyrics coming together. It’s telling a story, you know?”

The record certainly defies easy categorisation but is forged with the same spirit of experimentation and adventure synonymous with Terence’s heroes and contemporaries, artists like Andre 3K, Solange, Serpentwithfeet, Nelson Bandela, Standing on the Corner, Earl Sweatshirt, Nick Hakim, and Moses Sumney and indeed, Brainfeeder’s illustrious founder Flying Lotus. V O R T E X also draws on the literature of Louise Erdrich and Toni Morrison, as well as the drawings of Ruby Amanze whose voice is featured on the album.

“V O R T E X” envelops its audience in a clairvoyant’s plea to their lover, a psychic invitation to some preordained union of souls as expressed through a dreamstate or vision. Rhythmically, there is the sensation of being led, of descending into the deep caverns of a psyche in the troughs of harmonic convergence, a jovial if not foreboding impression. There is regret here too, as there always is in musings of relation: regrets of timing, regrets of intentions, regrets of capacity to accept and nurture love.

In the momentous ‘In Contemplation of Clair’s Scent’, Terence is candid and intimate. The song grows, emotions swell and morph. Clarity and confidence become a meditation on the desire for today and its fleshy possibilities as tomorrow becomes the desire for an ancient and spiritual affinity.

Much of V O R T E X’s climate circulates these themes. The weather of the feeling is a coy calamity, a playful unraveling of romantic expectation transposed against a taut everyday reality of projected masculinity. This need for an esoteric familiar shifts the albums perspective. Who is Terence singing to? If it is a woman is it a woman of external reality or a more abstracted feminine quality within Terence himself?

Harmony and balance, though slow, moves steady and arrives here in the V O R T E X for us to share.

Next for Terence, September will bring the premiere of a ritual, Fourth Dimension Trigger, Fifth Dimension Trauma at the 2022 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC. Then on an unspecified date in the near future, the premiere of season II of Random Acts of Flyness.

“V O R T E X”  comes out on the 19th of August 2022 via Brainfeeder. It’s available digitally and on limited edition deluxe 2LP vinyl with gold foil detail featuring photography by Kirby Griffin and artwork by ELLA.

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Kuedo is set to release his new album ‘Infinite Window’ on 29th July 2022 on the award-winning Brainfeeder record label.

Blending synth-driven avant garde compositions and thunderous drum programming, the album sonics owe as much to modern R&B icons like Frank Ocean and The Weeknd as they do to legendary composers such as David Axelrod, Tangerine Dream and the sadly recently-departed Vangelis or contemporary breakbeat aficionados such as Sully and Jlin.

“I’m split between thinking about what makes spacey synth driven music production work, what makes rap and UK jungle work, and what makes pop and R&B work,” explains Kuedo. “I found myself turning more to what I just enjoy listening to, or to what’s really endured through history, even if it’s new to me. I realised that old music can speak to the current moment as well or better than new music. Particularly in terms of ecological, planetary anxieties, and hopes too”.

Notions of ‘time’ — of looking both forward and backward — run deep throughout the album and its recording process. The genesis for ‘Infinite Window’ began in early 2021 when Kuedo sat down to begin composing a full length album for Brainfeeder, but the finished record is a meticulously assembled collage of new composition and various demos and sound recordings, some of which stretch back almost 10 years.

“Almost a third of the album comes from rough sketches I had written for a previous Kuedo album that never was.” he explains. ”Turning these into finished tracks and assembling them into a unified album, into something that moved as one body… that was a complex experience. It felt like negotiating with previous versions of myself, down corridors of time. It was a little odd hearing a much younger me trying to get better at playing keys, and then having the me now playing alongside that. It felt like time-travelling. In that process, I probably made some peace with that earlier version of myself too, for not having the confidence to finish it at the time”

“I didn’t have a conceptual conceit when I made the tracks or sequenced the album,” he continues. “But whenever I needed an image to anchor or aim toward, the images that came were something about the world after all this, if we almost lost everything. Hot, dry landscapes, remnants of this time, the wonder of this current green world, our relation to future generations, the waves of time. When I was mixing it, I  imagined it feeling weathered by time, or out of place in time, like something crash landed, or excavated, half buried in the sand.”

The limited edition yellow vinyl LP features artwork by fast rising visual artists Monja & Vincent and sleeve design by Raf Rennie (Acronym, Prada, Nike).

“Monja & Vincent and I met when they asked if I could contribute any music to their graduate animation short,” says Kuedo. They said their art style had been somewhat influenced by my music, which was incredible to me. I found the art they showed me so inspiring for my own music, it helped me write my own stuff. So I asked them if they would be interested in making an image for the album.”

“I’ve been a fan of Raf Rennie since the mid 2010s, I’m really buzzed to work with him,” he continues. “We have a good shared language & understanding of each other. Some similar inspirations too, like the original Alien film. He developed the Kuedo logo into his own full typeface, “Geiger”. To me his work has a minimalist, composed, slightly detached vibe, in a Kubrick-like way. I really like how it works around a more relaxed and expressive illustration, like Monja & Vincent’s.”

‘Infinite Window’ is out on 29th July on Brainfeeder.

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Brainfeeder welcomes Kuedo to the family with his first album in 6 years titled ‘Infinite Window’.

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Little Snake shares new Ivy Lab remix of ‘TO FIND LOVE IS TO SEEK THE END (feat. Flying Lotus)’ out now on Brainfeeder.

“Little Snake was like –  ‘Wanna do a remix? I don’t have any stems you’ll have to sample from the released version’ – which TBH was refreshingly restrictive. Loved combing through the LP looking for an irresistible hook to sample, you’re not normally allowed to do that to music from your contemporaries really.” Ivy Lab

Exploring the territory where leftfield bass and so-called “halftime” meet hip-hop – sometimes referred to as “future beats” – Ivy Lab occupy a space characterized by the coalescences of both Los Angeles and London. Currently enjoying a rich vein of form with their own production output as well as that of their 20/20 LDN imprint and events, the pair – J Fogel (Stray) and Gove Kidao (Sabre) – have tamed Little Snake and Flylo’s wild, freeform original to present a tight, focused and finely-tuned club workout.

“Ivy Lab has remained one of the most sacred acts within electronic music for me for several years,” says Little Snake. “Everything they do is carried out with such meticulous attention and style. When I asked them to remix something from my album with no stems, files, or really anything to offer I wasn’t expecting them to bite. But I’m beyond flattered they took it and did what they do best.”

The original version of ‘TO FIND LOVE IS TO SEEK THE END (feat. Flying Lotus)’ can be found on Little Snake’s debut album “A Fragmented Love Story, Written By The Infinite Helix Architect” – a sprawling masterpiece juxtaposing rhythm, tempo, melody and form that was released in May 2021. The Canadian producer, real name Gino Serpentini, has been deconstructing dancefloor norms, subverting traditional structures and refining his utterly inimitable sonic signature since 2017, spearheading a new wave of experimental producers hell bent on breaking new ground. Highly respected both by his peers and elders alike, it’s no coincidence that two titans of the avant garde: Amon Tobin and Flying Lotus, appeared on the record alongside fellow upstarts Sabroi, Tutara Peak and Shrimpnose.

Little Snake signed to Brainfeeder in 2018 after his tracks became a staple in Flying Lotus’s DJ sets, with the Brainfeeder label head describing his productions as “fkn insane”. He has released 3 EPs on the label, balancing intricacy with explosive bass weight: “YATDC” (2020), “LOST IN SPIRALS” (2019) that was informed by math rock, textural noise, acid techno and jungle; and “ENTER” (2018) which was inspired by the Gaspar Noé film Enter The Void.

His general disdain for electronic music norms and traditions has earned Serpentini praise from Billboard, Magnetic Mag, Brooklyn Vegan, XLR8R, This Song is Sick, Exclaim, Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Amon Tobin who declared: “Little Snake approaches music with a reckless abandon that gives me hope for a new generation of producers.”

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3x GRAMMY nominated Hiatus Kaiyote announce remix album “Mood Variant”–out 3rd April on Brainfeeder–and share a double single release of ‘Red Room (Nick Hakim Remix)’ and ‘Get Sun (Georgia Anne Muldrow Remix)’, which is out today. “Mood Variant” follows the overwhelming success of critically acclaimed album “Mood Valiant”, which is currently nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album at the 2022 GRAMMYS in April.

Nick Hakim’s signature approach at oblique indie soul reimagines the sanctuary of ‘Red Room’ with an air of mystery while the boundless muses of Georgia Anne Muldrow’s acclaimed album, “VWETO III”, spill over in a squelchy funk rework of lead single ‘Get Sun’. “Mood Variant” also enlists the talents of esteemed producers, featuring remixes from Mndsgn, Stro Elliot, DJ Khalil, Brainfeeder label mates Teebs, Salami Rose Joe Louis and more.

“Mood Valiant” came together over the course of six years during which the band spent time touring, writing and recording, culminating in a 2019 trip to Rio de Janeiro that led them to work with legendary Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai. The album has seen praises from the likes of The Observer, Mojo, CLASH, The New Statesman, and End of the Year Placements on NPR, Bandcamp Daily, Bleep, Vinyl Me Please, Record Store, Rough Trade, and more. Hiatus Kaiyote were also featured in an in-depth interview with The New York Times plus more additional features in NPR, Rough Trade Podcast, The List, The Ringer,  Amoeba’s “What’s In My Bag” video series, and Composer. The band also recently performed a NPR Tiny Desk Home Concert to rapturous acclaim.

Hiatus Kaiyote is Naomi “Nai Palm” Saalfield (guitar, vocals), Paul Bender (bass), Simon Mavin (keys), and Perrin Moss (drums). The group have been sampled on songs by The Carters (Beyonce & Jay-Z), Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, Chance The Rapper, and Drake—with whom Nai Palm also collaborated with on his “Scorpion” album. They’ve been praised by legends from Erykah Badu to Questlove to Prince, and other more recent supporters include SZA, Little Simz, Virgil Abloh, Doja Cat, Willow Smith, Nubya Garcia, Loyle Carner, Kehlani, Tom Misch, Lianne La Havas and Bradley Zero. Hiatus Kaiyote have seen placements on 10 different Billboard charts including Billboard Top 200 –  #103, Billboard Emerging Artists – #1, and Billboard Heatseekers – #1. Additional US Radio support comes from stations like KEXP, KCRW, SiriusXMU, and SiriusXM Diplo’s Revolution. The album also debuted at #4 on the ARIA Album Chart (AU) for the group’s first ever top ten entry. UK support includes Annie Mac, Clara Amfo, Gilles Peterson and Benji B on BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 music, where Iggy Pop has also supported, Jamz Supernova on 1Xtra, making the A list on BBC 6 Music, and being featured in and on the cover of the Guardian Guide. In Europe, they have previously sold out Somerset House, Kentish Town Forum and the Shepherds Bush Empire in London, the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Sala Apolo in Barcelona, and played numerous festivals including Glastonbury, Dour and Dimensions.

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Taken from the album ‘Blind’ Out now on Brainfeeder:

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Jameszoo (Mitchel van Dinther) returns to Brainfeeder with a new album – “Blind” – embarking on further adventures on the fringes of jazz and electronica. Imbued with the same spirit of adventure and experimental outlook as his previous work on the label, the recordings were shaped by van Dinther’s studio sessions at Willem Twee Studios – the specialist analogue studio in Den Bosch (Netherlands) with an unrivalled collection of vintage synthesizers – amongst other locations.

“In music and other arts there is a heavy emphasis on the artist,” says Mitchel. “Which composer, which soloist, which performer and the shifting emphasis between them all colours what we hear. Is it possible to create something that bypasses this? A project that forces active objective listening?”

These were the questions that Mitchel was pondering as he embarked on making “Blind”. Was he successful in his endeavour? “I didn’t even come close to be completely honest,” he laughs. “But all these (sometimes silly) attempts became the backbone for this new album.”

Mitchel started by trying to bypass himself as the protagonist, beginning by remotely recording musicians and collaborators reshaping his initial ideas and concepts, step by step morphing the music as if repainting a portrait again and again. “I tried to stop force-feeding my own preconceived notions of what music should sound like. Instead I would politely impose new ideas to the compositions, crossing fingers it wouldn’t reject these ideas like a failed organ transplant. Then something special started to happen, where the music seemed to grow almost self aware. I really enjoyed this process of letting loose and actively listening!”

Fascinated by the idea of a non-existent soloist, Mitchel recorded all sorts of motorised instruments to attempt to embody this idea. For example, the Disklavier (motorised piano) which allowed for precision and the execution of passages unplayable by the human hand. “It really helped me aesthetically detach from the human aspect,” he says. “The Disklavier started to embody the music’s characteristics.”

“Blind” exists as an album and a short film directed by Sven Bresser and Mitchel van Dinther himself. The film stemmed from conversations that Mitchel had with the fantastic performer Saïd Gharbi who is blind and who was kind enough to share his experiences on translating his senses to something he can only partly experience himself. “We talked about his process of exploring and engaging with his other senses after losing his sight,” explains Mitchel. “Through these conversations we decided on making a short movie together to accompany the album, portraying Saïd’s and my own experience of this music and our senses.”

Finally, in an ultimate attempt to transform into music itself Mitchel asked the cult Chilean-French filmmaker and artist Alejandro Jodorowsky the question: ‘how do I shape-shift?’, with Alejandro answering the question via a recorded tarot reading. “He had no more than a few minor details about me and was guided by his cards to formulate his response, which was a dazzling 14 minute long answer where I felt like he could see me and my world without me physically being anywhere near him,” says Mitchel smiling.

Supported by a cast of exceptionally talented friends on “Blind” who share van Dinther’s passion for improvisation and invention, Mitchel once agains links with his long term writing partner and keyboard whizz Niels Broos, Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and drummers Richard Spaven and Julian Sartorius, all of whom contributed to van Dinther’s debut album “Fool” (2016). Violinist Diamanda La Berge Dramm, pianist/organist Kit Downes (ECM), visionary trumpeter Peter Evans, trailblazing British saxophonist Evan Parker (a pivotal figure in the European free jazz movement), drummer Christian Lillinger, Brainfeeder label mate Oliver Johnson (Dorian Concept), saxophonist John Dikeman and the acclaimed sound explorer Matthew Bourne also contribute.

Jameszoo released his debut album “Fool” in 2016. A curious, at times downright awkward, but thoroughly enjoyable blend of jazz and off kilter electronics, the record featured cameos from two outright legends: Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai and pianist Steve Kuhn; in addition to virtuoso bassist Thundercat. van Dinther was rewarded for his bold, adventurous attitude in the studio by Gilles Peterson who bestowed upon him the “John Peel Play More Jazz” Award at the Worldwide Awards 2017.

In 2017 Jameszoo opened Amsterdam Dance Event with a very special collaboration with Jules Buckley and the Grammy-Award winning Metropole Orkest at the iconic Melkweg concert hall. The magic and the chemistry in the room that evening was both exhilarating and heartwarming as Buckley – Chief Conductor of the Metropole Orkest since 2013 – led the 49-piece orchestra and the Jameszoo Quintet on a truly joyful journey, elevating compositions from van Dinther’s 2016 album “Fool” to transcendental realms. The recordings of this momentous collaboration were released via Brainfeeder on 17 May 2019.

“Blind” will be released on 11th March 2022 on black vinyl LP with braille emboss detail on the sleeve. A strictly limited edition tarot deck (with album download) is also exclusively available via Bandcamp/Brainfeeder. The artwork for the project is by the celebrated Dutch artist Philip Akkerman, a dear friend of van Dinther.

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Wajatta is the musical duo of comedian/musician Reggie Watts and electronic music artist/DJ/producer John Tejada. Pronounced wa-HA-ta — it’s a mash-up of the artists’ last names. Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder record label released their second album “Don’t Let Get You Down” in 2020.

The duo describe Wajatta’s music very broadly as “electronic dance music with its roots in Detroit techno, Chicago house, ‘70s funk and New York hip hop” but new EP “Do You Even Care Anymore?” released on 3rd December 2021 encompasses the next evolution of their sound. “It has developed into something a bit deeper,” says John. “While our process and Reggie’s vocal improvisation work is still the same when we record, there’s just something new that we settled into this time. The music and the lyrics got a bit deeper.”

Title track ‘Do You Even Care Anymore?’ exemplifies their evolution perfectly. The modulation in the melodies and the way Reggie fits in that pocket is beauty right on the verge of dissonance. The brilliant animator/director Mike Manor comes through with a brilliantly conceived and executed video. Highly respected for his viral shorts and humorous 2D/3D pixel art style. Mike is heavily influenced by rap, comedy and animé and has worked with Zack Fox & Jak Knight, Denzel Curry & Kennybeats, Flying Lotus, Pi’erre Bourne, 24kGoldn, 88Rising and more.

Elsewhere on the EP, ‘Somethin’ More Than This’ and ‘So You Know’ playfully channel vintage 12 bit sampler grooves and ‘Stone Hearted’ is deep, dubby and meditative. Throwing in a wonderful curveball to close out proceedings, John and Reggie serve up a cover version of Adamski’s stone cold classic ‘Killer’. “Most people in the US know the version which ended up on Seal’s debut album, but the original was a fierce instrumental Adamski would perform live during the peak of the Acid House explosion in the UK,” explains John. “It wasn’t for a while that he added vocals sung by his friend Seal. Adamski’s original version is a UK classic and it still holds up to this day. We began playing a version of this at some of our shows a couple of years back and we suddenly realized it should be released. A cover is something I don’t think either of us have ever done or thought of doing, but we wanted to remind everyone about the original version of this classic in hopes they would go and discover it for themselves (and hopefully have a little dance to our version in the process).”

Reggie Watts can currently be seen nightly on US TV as the bandleader for CBS’s The Late Late Show With James Corden. He first burst into American audience’s lives as the co-host of IFC’s groundbreaking variety series Comedy Bang! Bang! As a solo performer, he’s honed a unique style that blurs the lines between music and comedy, as is evident in his 9-minute TED Talk in 2012, as well as multiple comedy specials for both Comedy Central and Netflix, and at the invitation of Jack White, the record “Reggie Watts Live at Third Man Records”. Reggie relies heavily on improvisation — most notably, the multi-layered music tracks he builds on the fly, looping his beat-boxed rhythms and soulful vocals into spontaneous musical inventions that are funky, hypnotic and often hilarious.

John Tejada has been at the vanguard of West Coast techno since 1994, releasing a succession of acclaimed albums, singles and EPs for such prestigious labels as Kompakt, Poker Flat, Cocoon, Plug Research and his own long-running imprint, Palette Recordings (est. 1996).

“Do You Even Care Anymore?” EP is out now on Brainfeeder Records.

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CONGRATS TO HIATUS KAIYOTE ON BEING NOMINATED FOR ‘BEST PROGRESSIVE R&B ALBUM’ FOR THE 2022 GRAMMYS !

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ROSS FROM FRIENDS LAUNCHES NEW FREE PLUGIN AND 50GB OF SAMPLES

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Taken from the EP ‘Do You Even Care Anymore?’ Out now on Brainfeeder:

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Video by Mike Manor

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Taken from the album ‘Mood Valiant’, Out now on Brainfeeder:

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‘Pyramid Remix’ is out now on Brainfeeder

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Thundercat LIVE on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

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Hiatus Kaiyote: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

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The long awaited return of Hiatus Kaiyote is here.

The new album ‘Mood Valiant’ is out now on Brainfeeder.

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Taken from the album ‘Mood Valiant’, released 25 June on Brainfeeder:

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Jaga Jazzist release new film and live album “The Tower” on Brainfeeder, recorded at the top of Økern Kulturtårn in Oslo.

“The Tower” is a new film and live album by the Norwegian eight-piece band Jaga Jazzist. Comprising of live recordings of the four compositions that make up their ninth studio album “Pyramid”, the band linked with director Sigurd Ytre-Arne to film an incredible live set at the top of Økern Kulturtårn in Oslo, capturing the transition from day to night as the sun set over Norway’s capital city.

“This was a beautiful night in August 2020 after five months in lockdown. It was the first day we met up and played the album together since recording it a year earlier,” explains Lars Horntveth. “The idea was to capture the sunset over our beautiful city while playing the new album from start to finish. Filmed, edited and directed by the supertalented Sigurd Ytre-Arne. We´re stoked that we captured this on film and looking forward to finally show it to everybody. Enjoy!”

Released last year on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder Records, “Pyramid” saw Jaga Jazzist taking a deep dive into post-rock, jazz and psychedelia influences. The album title refers to the building blocks which make up a pyramid, and how each of the four tracks – and their constituent parts – fit together. ‘Tomita’ is a nod to Japanese composer and synth player Isao Tomita, and ‘The Shrine’ alludes to Fela Kuti’s legendary Lagos venue. Lars says: “I felt that this album is a small symphony, each part containing its own rooms to explore.

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Tickets on sale NOW

Artwork by Mckay Felt

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Artwork by Mckay Felt

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Brainfeeder is pleased to announce the signing of Hiatus Kaiyote

Their album ‘Mood Valiant’ is out June 25th

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HUGE CONGRATS TO THUNDERCAT & FLYING LOTUS ON WINNING A GRAMMY FOR BEST PROGRESSIVE R&B ALBUM!!!!

WE LOVE YOU GUYS!

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Salami Rose Joe Louis – “We’re Dumb” (Official Visualizer by Strangeloop)

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Flying Lotus & Brainfeeder presents a global live stream extravaganza, featuring Flying Lotus, Brandon Coleman, Teebs and Salami Rose Joe Louis.

For one night only Steve Ellison, the man behind the mask of Flying Lotus, will orchestrate a virtual audio-visual showcase. A livestream performance opens a world of possibilities for the chameleonic artist who always finds surprising, psychedelic methods of pulling viewers, both live and digitally, under his spell. His work traverses the cosmos all the way to the astral plane, touching upon places out of reach to the modern, humble human.

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This show will be broadcast live 3 times on Saturday 28th November.

Ticket holders can watch any broadcast from any location. Please find your local time from the schedule below.

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Broadcast #1 (Tokyo)
9pm JST / Noon GMT / 7am ET / 4am PT

Broadcast #2 (London)
9pm GMT / 4pm ET / 1pm PT / 6am JST*

Broadcast #3 (L.A.)
8pm PT / 11pm ET / 4am GMT* / 1pm JST*

*next day, 29th Nov

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Floating Points remixes ‘Fair Chance (feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Lil B) from Thundercat’s incredible album “It Is What It Is” out now on Brainfeeder Records

Back in April, as the world was spiralling into COVID-19 lockdown, Thundercat released his aptly titled album “It Is What It Is” featuring musical contributions from Flying Lotus, Childish Gambino, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole, Zack Fox, Ty Dolla $ign and Lil B. The latter pair graced the single ‘Fair Chance’, a song that reflected a more sombre side to the album and was explicitly dedicated to the memory of Mac Miller who tragically passed away in 2018.

Earlier this summer, rappers Smino and Guapdad 4000 brought their own inimitable flavour to the anthemic ‘Dragonball Durag’ and now it’s the turn of much loved British producer Floating Points to share his take on ‘Fair Chance’, nudging the ballad onto the dancefloor with a fabulous rework that nods to vintage 4×4 UKG. The digital is out now and a 12” is available to preorder with a street date of 18 December 2020.

The remix comes during a monumental year for Thundercat. “It Is What It Is” already landed on numerous “Albums of the Year So Far” lists including Billboard, Rolling Stone, Complex, Bandcamp Daily, NPR, Paste (#15) and Stereogum (#15), Mojo and Uncut. Furthermore he has graced the covers of The Wire, Brick and London In Stereo.

‘Fair Chance (feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Lil B) [Floating Points Remix]’ is out now as a digital single. A maxi 12” single backed with ‘Fair Chance (feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Lil B)’ original, instrumental and acapella is available to preorder now and will be released on 18 December 2020.

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In what Little Snake describes as “truly a full circle moment”, Brainfeeder releases his collaboration with the visionary Brazilian electronic composer Amon Tobin: ‘Loophole’.

Little Snake:

“‘Loophole’ – to me – is the embodiment of a portal in which transfiguration occurs. A transfiguration in which we return to a heartspace beyond all delusions within this 3D hologram and return to a state of peace in which we truly know. We know and embody truth beyond our physical minds comprehension and temporary emotions. It takes us to a place where fear and love no longer hold any power and control over us, and instead brings us to a place of complete freedom to truly exist. I would like to extend a huge thanks to one of my all time greatest inspirations – Amon Tobin – for writing this alongside me. It is truly a full circle moment for me.”

Amon Tobin:

“Little Snake approaches music with a reckless abandon that gives me hope for a new generation of producers.”

Little Snake (real name Gino Serpentini) resides in Calgary, Alberta. His music deconstructs dancefloor norms and subverts traditional structures, balancing intricacy with explosive bass weight. His tracks have become a staple in Flying Lotus’s DJ sets who signed him to his label Brainfeeder in 2018, describing his productions as “fkn insane”. He has released 3 EPs on the label: “YATDC” (2020), “LOST IN SPIRALS” (2019) that was informed by math rock, textural noise, acid techno and jungle; and “ENTER” (2018) which was inspired by the Gaspar Noé film Enter The Void.

Amon Tobin’s life and work in electronic music has produced some of the most important, era-defining records of his time and has helped to shape much of what has come since. Amon spent eight years developing a series of works under different aliases, alongside the material under his own name. These are now gradually being unveiled on the Nomark label.

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The Norwegian eight-piece band Jaga Jazzist recently released their new album “Pyramid”, taking a deep dive into post-rock, jazz and psychedelia influences. It is their ninth album in a distinguished career now spanning four decades, but it marks the group’s debut on Brainfeeder, the LA-based imprint curated by Flying Lotus.

On “Pyramid”, Jaga Jazzist have crafted a suitably cosmic sound to match their new label home, all the while nodding to forebears spanning from 80s jazz band Out To Lunch and Norwegian synth guru Ståle Storløkken, to contemporaries Tame Impala and Jon Hopkins.

“So much of the music on this album is inspired by the Norwegian music scene fronted by Prins Thomas, Lindstrøm and Todd Terje,” says Lars from the band.

It is fitting then that their longtime friends, internationally renowned producers individually (but even more potent as a duo) Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas have reworked and stretched the epic ‘Apex’, morphing it into a mammoth D.I.S.C.O. mix that tips the scales at 11 mins 39 secs.

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Thundercat – ‘Dragonball Durag (feat. Smino & Guapdad 4000) [Remix]’

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‘Esrevoinma’ is out July 3rd on Brainfeeder

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Stuart Howard aka Lapalux returns on Brainfeeder with “Esrevoinma”, a six-track EP of “post-apocalyptic Eurorack mayhem”. The fruits of a couple months or so of “tinkering”—as Howard rather modestly describes his creative process—this sextet arrives as an extension of Lapalux’s latest album “Amnioverse”, a record that revolved around notions of fluidity; that birth, life, death, and rebirth is a never ending continuum. Described as an artist who “has always felt ahead of the curve” (Clash), “Amnioverse” was hailed as a “fluid, escapist gem” (The Line of Best Fit), and as the British producer’s “crowning glory and one of Brainfeeder’s most essential bodies of work.” (London In Stereo).

Introducing “Esrevoinma” is ‘51 Endless Pulses’—a cyclone of modular chaos that slowly builds, then whips past, faltering, before almost collapsing in on itself. It’s a stunning example of Howard’s highly textured, maximal electronica, and makes up one of the three brand new tracks on the EP alongside ‘Nebula’ and ‘Unfold’. Elsewhere Howard showcases a storming live rework of ‘Earth’ and alternate versions of album cuts ‘The Lux Quadrant’ and ‘Amnioverse’.

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Jaga Jazzist – “Spiral Era (Prins Thomas Remix)”

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Highly esteemed astral traveller and Norwegian king of the disco Prins Thomas remixes ‘Spiral Era’ from Jaga Jazzist’s forthcoming album “Pyramid”, out on 07 August via Brainfeeder. Truly a match made in heaven, Prins Thomas expertly elevates the eight-piece’s monstrous grooves skywards to the stars, conjuring a cosmic rework that unravels over a cool 11 mins and 17 secs.

“We love this version and it feels like a full circle since so much of the music on this album is inspired by the Norwegian music scene fronted by Prins Thomas, Lindström and Todd Terje,” says Lars from the band.

On new album “Pyramid”, Jaga Jazzist take a deep dive into post-rock, jazz and psychedelia influences. It’s their first album since 2015’s “Starfire”, their ninth album in a career now spanning four decades, but it marks the group’s debut on Brainfeeder, the LA-based imprint curated by Flying Lotus. Nodding to forebears spanning from 80s jazz band Out To Lunch and Norwegian synth guru Ståle Storløkken, to contemporaries Tame Impala, Todd Terje and Jon Hopkins, each of the album’s four longform entries evolves over carefully plotted movements, the tracks’ technicolour threads dreamily unspooling.

The album title refers to the building blocks which make up a pyramid, and how each of the four tracks – and their constituent parts – fit together. Elsewhere on the record, ‘Tomita’ is a nod to Japanese composer and synth player Isao Tomita, and ‘The Shrine’ alludes to Fela Kuti’s legendary Lagos venue. Composer Lars Horntveth says: “I felt that this album is a small symphony, each part containing its own rooms to explore.”

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“(rolrolrol)” off the album ‘Melkweg’ out now.

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Jameszoo’s LIVE album ‘Melkweg’ is finally available on vinyl.

Special Edition & Regular Editions

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“Hot Mess“ off the upcoming album ‘Dizzy Strange Summer’ out July 17th

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“Living Like I Know I’m Gonna Die” off the upcoming album ‘Dizzy Strange Summer’ out July 17th

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‘Dizzy Strange Summer’ is out Brainfeeder July 17th

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‘It Is What It Is’ out NOW on Brainfeeder

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Thundercat will release his new album “It Is What It Is” on Brainfeeder Records on April 3, 2020. The album, produced by Flying Lotus and Thundercat, features musical contributions from Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole and Zack Fox.

“It Is What It Is” follows his game-changing third album “Drunk” (2017). That record completed his transition from virtuoso bassist to bonafide star and cemented his reputation as a unique voice that transcends genre. “This album is about love, loss, life and the ups and downs that come with that,” Bruner says about “It Is What It Is”. “It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but at different points in life you come across places that you don’t necessarily understand… some things just aren’t meant to be understood.”

The tragic passing of his friend Mac Miller in September 2018 had a profound effect on Thundercat and the making of “It Is What It Is”. “Losing Mac was extremely difficult,” he explains. “I had to take that pain in and learn from it and grow from it. It sobered me up… it shook the ground for all of us in the artist community.”

The unruly bounce of new single ‘Black Qualls’ is classic Thundercat, teaming up with Steve Lacy (The Internet) and Funk icon Steve Arrington (Slave). It’s another example of Stephen Lee Bruner’s desire to highlight the lineage of his music and pay his respects to the musicians who inspired him. Discovering Arrington’s output in his late teens, Bruner says he fell in love with his music immediately: “The tone of the bass, the way his stuff feels and moves, it resonated through my whole body.” ‘Black Qualls’ emerged from writing sessions with Lacy, whom Thundercat describes as “the physical incarnate of the Ohio Players in one person – he genuinely is a funky ass dude”. It references what it means to be a black American with a young mindset: “What it feels like to be in this position right now… the weird ins and outs, we’re talking about those feelings…”

Thundercat revisits established partnerships with Kamasi Washington, Louis Cole, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Ronald Bruner Jr and Dennis Hamm on “It Is What Is Is” but there are new faces too: Childish Gambino, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, plus Ty Dolla $ign and Lil B on ‘Fair Chance’ – a song explicitly about his friend Mac Miller’s passing. The aptly titled ‘I Love Louis Cole’ is another standout – “Louis Cole is a brush of genius. He creates so purely,” says Thundercat. “He makes challenging music: harmony-wise, melody-wise and tempo-wise but still finds a way for it to be beautiful and palatable.”

Elsewhere on the album, ‘Dragonball Durag’ exemplifies both Thundercat’s love of humour in music and indeed his passion for the cult Japanese animé. “I have a Dragon Ball tattoo… it runs everything. There is a saying that Dragon Ball runs life,” he explains. “The durag is a superpower, to turn your swag on. It does something… it changes you,” he says smiling.

Thundercat’s music starts on his couch at home: “It’s just me, the bass and the computer”. Nevertheless, referring to the spiritual connection that he shares with his longtime writing and production partner Flying Lotus, Bruner describes his friend as “the other half of my brain”. “I wouldn’t be the artist I am if Lotus wasn’t there,” he says. “He taught me… he saw me as an artist and he encouraged it. No matter the life changes, that’s my partner. We are always thinking of pushing in different ways.”

Comedy is an integral part of Thundercat’s personality. “If you can’t laugh at this stuff you might as well not be here,” he muses. He seems to be magnetically drawn to comedians from Zack Fox (with whom he collaborates regularly) to Dave Chappelle, Eric Andre and Hannibal Buress whom he counts as friends. “Every comedian wants to be a musician and every musician wants to be a comedian,” he says. “And every good musician is really funny, for the most part.” It’s the juxtaposition, or the meeting point, between the laughter and the pain that is striking listening to “It Is What It Is”: it really is all-encompassing. “The thing that really becomes a bit transcendent in the laugh is when it goes in between how you really feel,” Bruner says. “You’re hoping people understand it, but you don’t even understand how it’s so funny ‘cos it hurts sometimes.”

Thundercat forms a cornerstone of the Brainfeeder label; he released “The Golden Age of Apocalypse” (2011), “Apocalypse” (2013), followed by EP “The Beyond / Where The Giants Roam” featuring the modern classic ‘Them Changes’. He was later “at the creative epicenter” (per Rolling Stone) of the 21st century’s most influential hip-hop album Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”, where he won a Grammy for his collaboration on the track ‘These Walls’ before releasing his third album “Drunk” in 2017. In 2018 Thundercat and Flying Lotus composed an original score for an episode of Golden Globe and Emmy award winning TV series “Atlanta” (created and written by Donald Glover).

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Thundercat – “Fair Chance (feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Lil B)” [Official Audio]

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Brainfeeder happily welcomes Genevieve Artadi to the family.

More to come…!

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“Black Qualls” LIVE on Jimmy Kimmel featuring  Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington & Flying Lotus

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“Atoms Song (feat. Thomas Stankiewicz)” [Official Video]

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Wajatta — the musical duo of Reggie Watts and John Tejada — return with their second album, “Don’t Let Get You Down”, to be released by Brainfeeder on 28 February 2020. Coming from different worlds, but sharing a passion for the rich history of electronic music, beat-boxer/comedian/musician Watts and electronic music artist/DJ/producer Tejada bring out the best in each other’s formidable skill sets. Where the duo’s debut album “Casual High Technology” hinted at the broad stylistic possibilities inherent in the marriage of Watts’ elastic, soul-stirring vocals and Tejada’s layered, melodically inventive productions, “Don’t Let Get You Down” makes good on that promise.

The first single from new 11-song LP, released today, is the infectious title track. With its brightly pulsing synths and whistling hook, ‘Don’t Let Get You Down’ is, in the words of Reggie Watts, “the poppiest song we’ve ever done.”

Wajatta (pronounced wa-HA-ta) is a mash-up of the artists’ last names. Having grown up with similar musical influences, Austrian-born Tejada and German-born Watts draw from their love of electronic music. Exploring the intersection between influences and innovation, the two describe Wajatta’s music as “electronic dance music with its roots in Detroit techno, Chicago house, ’70s funk and New York hip hop.” It’s a sound that is both familiar and wholly original — and, like all great dance music, ultimately life-affirming, as Watts vocalizes, sometimes without words, the joyful energy of his and Tejada’s funky, shape-shifting productions. “That’s the great thing about working with John,” Watts says with an infectious grin. “He’s so steeped in the history of this music. I just pick up on that and run with it.”

Wajatta builds most tracks from scratch, bouncing ideas off one another from initial spark to finished product. It’s all done face-to-face: “We never just share files,” Tejada notes. They also try to keep their sessions as spontaneous as possible, in a never-ending quest to, as Watts puts it, “capture the freshness.” As a result, the 11 tracks on “Don’t Let Get You Down” crackle with the energy of fresh ideas captured at the moment of inspiration. It’s electronic music made organically, from two masters at the top of their respective games.

Their organic approach extends to their live shows, at which Tejada rebuilds the duo’s tracks on his samplers and synths, while the multi-octave Watts conjures vocal symphonies out of little more than a loop station and a delay pedal. They’ve performed at Movement in Detroit, MUTEK in Montreal, CRSSD Festival in San Diego, two Dirtybird shows (BBQ in 2018 and Campout in 2019), in addition to a live studio session for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. The duo’s live energy is captured on the final track of the album ‘All I Need Is You’, a fully improvised song that was part of a spontaneously created 90-minute performance for Club Something at The Sweat Spot, an L.A. dance studio run by choreographer Ryan Heffington. It’s a six-minute snapshot of the improvisational brilliance that lies at the heart of everything Wajatta does — an approach summed up in Watts’ off-the-cuff one-liner near the track’s end: “We’re making everything here for you from scratch — just to ensure maximum freshness.”

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“Dragonball Durag”

Directed by Zack Fox

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‘Pyramid’ is out August 7th on Brainfeeder

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The 2nd single off Thundercat’s upcoming album ‘It Is What It Is’

“Dragonball Durag”

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The 2nd single “Tonight” by Wajatta is out now!

‘Don’t Let Get You Down’ is out February 28th on Brainfeeder.

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The first single off the upcoming Thundercat album ‘It Is What It Is’

“Black Qualls (feat. Steve Lacy & Steve Arrington)”

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‘Don’t Let Get You Down’ is out February 28th 2020 on Brainfeeder

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“Prey/Pray (feat. Casey MQ)”

Directed by PBDY

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 ‘Careworn’ is out now on Brainfeeder

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“Careworn” is eerily beautiful and defies easy categorisation, floating between highly textured ambient soundscapes and widescreen electronica, drawing inspiration from experimental doom/sludge metal act The Body, Massive Attack and film scores such as “Moonlight” by Nicholas Britell. Founded on home recordings blessed with additional contributions from friends and family – more often than not simply recorded on a phone and dispatched via email – the record features guitarist Jeff Parker (of pioneering post-rock outfit Tortoise), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (violin), drummer Justin Brown (Thundercat, Ambrose Akinmusire), Brainfeeder label mates Salami Rose Joe Louis (vocals) and Miguel Baptista Benedict (guitar), violinist Tylana Renga, Casey MQ (Unbuttoned), French/Canadian duo O’Hara, pianist MICHELANGEL0 and vocalist Anika who is best known for her collaborative work with Geoff Barrow (Beak / Portishead) and her band Exploded View.

The title “Careworn” is defined as “tired and unhappy because of prolonged worry”. It’s the first in a trilogy of records by Preston exploring the human condition: specifically love, loss and death. Written after the passing of his mother (amongst other heartaches) these songs explore the aftermath of someone trying to move on and reflect the anxieties of not knowing if/when things will get better. “It’s about the feeling of the unknown, wanting to feel better not sure if one should be allowed to feel that way,” he explains. “Revelling in sadness can create such beauty but what degree of masochism do we need to go through to find this place of peace with what’s given in life?”

Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, it was Brainfeeder label head Flying Lotus who encouraged Paul to make the move to Los Angeles, immerse himself in the music community and finish this record. Paul has been the resident selector/DJ at the heart of the Brainfeeder family for nearly 8 years, hosting radio shows, building DJ mixes, rocking label showcases, instores, afterparties and touring worldwide with Thundercat, Flying Lotus and The Cinematic Orchestra. A self-confessed music fanatic, his inestimable and seemingly inexhaustible passion for new sounds is utterly infectious. He established his label TAR in 2013, creating a platform to share his favourite experimental sounds sourced from lesser known acts as far afield as Asia, Australia and Russia.

It was simply a matter of time before his energy shifted from musical curation to creation. In 2017 PBDY linked with Jeremiah Jae under the moniker JP Moregun for a moody, psych-heavy rap mixtape on Brainfeeder. It was PBDY’s first outing in the role of producer. 2018 saw PBDY make his solo debut on Brainfeeder, contributing the beautiful ‘Bring Me Down’ to the label’s 10th anniversary compilation “Brainfeeder X”.

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‘End of Empire’ Boxset is out now on Brainfeeder

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Legit pioneer, standard bearer for experimental electronics, and newly minted faculty at Berklee College of Music, Daedelus (aka Alfred Darlington) returns on Brainfeeder with a new album titled “The Bittereinders” sounding of ancient requiem with evocations of Township Jazz, but still modern electronic music by way of drone, pipe organ wheezing and incessant beats.

“The Bittereinders” brings Daedelus’ “End of Empire” trilogy on Brainfeeder to a close, following 2010’s “Righteous Fists of Harmony” inspired by The Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) and 2014’s “The Light Brigade” that recalled the Crimean War of 1853-56. The culmination of the series, “The Bittereinders” dives into the final 3 year conflict from the Victorian era that was perhaps its most brutal. The Second Boer War is recounted as fought between the British and formerly Dutch Z.A.R. and Free Orange People and ended by treaty in 1902. What is not made clear in the ‘counting is the thousands of Black and Brown people were caught in the colonial crossfire of Empire’s endless appetite. This is the conflict that coined modern use of the term “concentration camp” and brought new bloody levels of guerrilla warfare. Just as in “Righteous Fists of Harmony” and “The Light Brigade”, Daedelus has taken liberty in using modern sound sources against a backdrop of mystic overtones.

“From the belief that contemporary events are too difficult to address,” Alfred explains. “I’ve reached back into history to relate some of what is largely forgotten to directly look into the ravages which continue to echo. All records fuse unrelenting repetition of lyric and forms, evocative noise and reaching melodies.”

Recorded at Brainfeeder label mate Jameszoo’s Willem Twee Studios in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands – an exceptional analogue electronic sound and music workspace – and Red Bull Studios in Cape Town, South Africa. “The Bittereinders” features Lee Thomson (trumpet on ‘The Irreconcilables’, in a nod to the Township Jazz tradition); Mikhaela Faye Kruger (vocals on ‘Sold As’ and ‘Veldt’); Shane Cooper (bass on ‘Du Sud’ with American Amir Yaghmai providing ghost vocals as a connection to the previous LPs).

A limited edition 3LP box set housing the “End of Empire” trilogy will be released on 15 November 2019 and is available to preorder now.

Tracklisting:

Disc I

Righteous Fists of Harmony

A1. An Armada Approaches

A2. Tidal Waves Uprising

A3. The Open Hand Avows

A4. Order Of The Golden Dawn

B1. The Finishing of a Thing

B2. Succumbing To

B3. Stampede Me

B4. Fin De Siècle

——-

Disc II

The Light Brigade

A1. Until Artillery

A2. Baba Yaga

A3. Onward

A4. The Victory of the Echo Over the Voice

A5. Sevastopol

B1. Tsars and Hussars

B2. Battery Smoke

B3. Belonging

B4. Pre-munitions

B5. Shot and Shell

B6. Country Of Conquest

——-

Disc III

The Bittereinders

A1. Deep in Concentration

A2. Trifling

A3. The Irreconcilables

A4. Sangoma

A5. Sold As

B1. Anima

B2. Staatsartillerie

B3. Veldt

B4. Du Sud

B5. Puts You Under

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A mini doc by Jackie Radinsky

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‘Amnioverse’ is out now on Brainfeeder

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Lapalux (aka Stuart Howard) returns to Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder for his fourth album. “Amnioverse”—“a sort of portmanteau of the amniotic sac and the universe,” he explains—revolves around notions of fluidity; that birth, life, death, and rebirth is a never ending continuum.

He channels these ethereal ideas through a new and ever-expanding modular synth set-up, injecting human emotion, and layering recordings of weather, wind, rain and fire, lending  an elemental, celestial feel to the composition. While 2017’s “Ruinism” was about sonic wreckage and deconstruction, with “Amnioverse”, Howard took a different approach, basing each track around a snippet of spoken word from “friends, lovers, and ex partners”, and building the music around it. He also reconnects with Icelandic vocalist JFDR (Jófríður Ákadóttir) who returns for two tracks on ’Thin Air’ and ‘The Lux Quadrant’, as well as vocalist Lilia on ‘Limb To Limb’, ‘Voltaic Acid’ and ‘Momentine’. “For me the real focus was that the whole record flowed,” he says. ”I worked on each song sequentially and wouldn’t stop working on a session until they fitted together and told the story that I wanted to tell.”

Initial inspiration for the album came from a photograph of James Turrell’s Twilight Epiphany Skyspace installation in Texas. “I looked at it every day for three years whilst making this record.” explains Howard, “People are sitting in what looks like a waiting room lit in a purple hue, looking up at the dark night sky through a rectangular hole in the ceiling. The image has so much depth and means so much to me…. it seems like we are all in that waiting room, waiting to be somewhere or go somewhere. That’s what I tried to encapsulate in this record.”

Turrell’s influence extends to the album cover too, itself an homage to the artist’s  groundbreaking work with light, shadow and perspective. Conceived by Creative Director and photographer Dan Medhurst and Owen Gildersleeve—an expert in hand-crafted illustration and set design—the build stemmed from a vision that Howard imagined: “I initially had an idea of a person, or group of people, in an impossibly large room set in a fog of pink looking into a void symbolic of a womb or amniotic sac,” he says. “We then ran with the idea of making a structure that had a deeper perspective, the ever decreasing octagon shape that suggests a sort of birth canal into the unknown.”

Support for Lapalux has come from the likes of Pitchfork, Mixmag, FADER, FACT, Dazed, SPIN, The Wire, A.V. Club and many more. With Benji B, Huw Stephens, Lauren Laverne, Mary-Anne Hobbs and many others championing his music across radio.

Capping off last year with two standout performances at the Brainfeeder X showcase at Brixton Academy, and alongside Jacques Greene at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere, Lapalux is set to return with a new live-AV show—driven and delivered by his modular gear set-up—to present a cohesive light, projection and sound performance.

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‘Anicca’ is out now on Brainfeeder

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The wait is finally over for new music by Teebs, aka Mtendere Mandowa. It’s been 5 years since his last body of work, but 25 October will mark the release of his next full length album “​Anicca”.​ With the help of a host of musical friends including ​Panda Bear (Animal Collective), Sudan Archives, Ringgo Ancheta aka MNDSGN, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Anna Wise, daydream Masi, Former Boy, Pink Siifu, Jimetta Rose and Thomas Stankiewicz, the 4​7 minute LP fuses Teebs’ signature bright and fluid productions with the grounded and colorful elements of his collaborators.

With roots at the ‘My Hollow Drum’ collective, Dublab, and Low End Theory, Teebs is a staple in Los Angeles music. “My creative family in LA is so important,” he explains. “It’s a part of who I am when I step outside and how others in LA view me. I love the feeling of community and trying to understand how I can be useful in it.”

A consummate artist with a completely unique style, his ideas seemingly flow from a cloudy hidden realm of the ether straight through the medium and onto the canvas. As both a producer and a painter, his projects possess a flawless consistency that pull one deep into the worlds he creates.

Reflecting on his 5 year hiatus from releasing music, he says: “It feels like it [the music] comes from a different place now. My inspiration to work has changed and my choices with it. I’ve explored more with what tools and instruments I used and tried to be more open to collaboration.” ​The record showcases just how effortlessly his work lays landscapes for his guests’ contributions to blend in with his own production and Teebs himself is full of admiration for his collaborators. For example, of Panda Bear from Animal Collective, who is featured on lead single ‘Studie’ he explains that: “Everything he decides to do is pure gold or fine wine.” It’s a similar story with kindred spirit Sudan Archives who graces ‘Black Dove’ – of whom he says, “She really is a scary genius who deserves the world’s ears and eyes.”

The album was recorded mostly at home using his Roland SP-404 sampler, Mellotron M4000D synthesizer, seprewa (Ghanaian harp-lute), guitar and laptop – “If you listen closely you might hear my daughter speaking or my wife typing on a laptop on the record,” Teebs says smiling.

Family is at the heart of Mtendere’s life now and they are his primary source of inspiration. “My daughter was born the year after ‘Estara’ and taking time to watch her grow meant everything to me…” he explains. “Also my relationships with my wife,mother, brother, and the friends around me, and the mistakes I’ve made through my life have all inspired Anicca.” He also cites the American poet David Antin and his 1976 work “Talking at the Boundaries” as a notable read and a quote about art, nature and form from Hans Arp’s “Notes from a Dada Diary” that struck a chord with him during the making of the record.

As for the title – “Anicca” – it describes the impermanence of all being in Buddhism. Recognition of the fact that ‘anicca’ characterizes everything is one of the first steps in the Buddhist’s spiritual progress toward enlightenment. “It’s a reminder to myself that nothing is permanent,” he says.

A highly respected visual artist, Teebs created the artwork for “Anicca” just as he has done for his previous albums. “I’m using the two disciplines [music and art] together to explore the worlds of communication and semi abstractions” he explains. The artwork for “Anicca” started as a drawing about his wife and mother and evolved into an enamel pin that transformed again as he collaborated with his friend Megan Geer-Alsop to make a stained glass replica. That work later got photographed and digitally enhanced to make the cover. “The artwork is so special to me because of all the hands working together to create an idea,” says Mtendere. “The piece went through so much change and landed in a state of constant change being made out of glass with its colors and reflections… no matter how you look at it or what time of day it is, it’s always something different, yet the same… quite like nature works. It felt like life, like semi abstractions and like the album title.”

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‘Anicca’ is out Oct 25th

“Studie (feat. Panda Bear)” is out now

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PBDY – Brainfeeder’s resident selector/DJ – is in the midst of a 34 date US tour supporting Flying Lotus that ends next week on 20 September at The Novo in their hometown Los Angeles. His new single ‘This State of Mine (Mind)’ released today comes hot on the heels of ‘Eucalyptus & Lavender / So Help Me (DOG)’ a hazy, loose-knit jam that featured Jeff Parker (of pioneering post-rock outfit Tortoise) on guitar, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on viola and Justin Brown (Thundercat, Ambrose Akinmusire) on drums. In contrast, ‘This State of Mine (Mind)’ is founded on pounding 4×4 kicks and features vocals by British/German recording artist Anika who is best known for her collaborative work with Geoff Barrow (Beak / Portishead), Shackleton and her band Exploded View.

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‘The Bittereinders’ – new album by Daedelus out on 20 Sept.

The final chapter in his epic ‘End of Empire’ trilogy including the albums ‘Righteous Fists of Harmony’ & ‘The Light Brigade’.

Preorder the ltd 3LP box set (out in Nov) & stream ‘Veldt’

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